Prepare Release

End-to-end release workflow. Reads commits since the last release tag, infers the semver bump, drafts a user-facing changelog, confirms with you, creates a release PR, merges it, verifies CI is green, tags the release, and monitors the Docker build to completion.

Usage: /prepare-release

Run this from any branch after all feature PRs have been merged to main.

Step 1 — Ensure Clean Main

Switch to main and pull latest:

git checkout main
git pull origin main
git status

If git status shows uncommitted changes, stop and resolve them before continuing. The working tree must be clean.

Step 2 — Find Last Release Tag

git describe --tags --abbrev=0

Note this as LAST_TAG (e.g., v2.0.2). All commits after this tag are candidates for the release.

If this command fails (no tags exist yet), use the full history — note the first commit hash as the baseline and treat the release as the initial version.

Step 3 — Gather Commits Since Last Tag

git log <LAST_TAG>...HEAD --oneline
git diff <LAST_TAG>...HEAD --stat
git diff <LAST_TAG>...HEAD --name-only

Collect the full output of each. Do not truncate.

Step 4 — Filter and Synthesize (Critical Reasoning Step)

This is not a raw dump of commit messages. Analyze the material and produce a curated, user-facing summary.

4a. Discard internal-only commits

Ignore commits that match any of the following:

• Subject starts with: wip, WIP, checkpoint, fixup!, chore: rebase,

Merge branch, version bump, release:

• Commit only touches: build.gradle.kts, gradle/, *.properties, .gitignore,

.github/, Dockerfile, docker-compose.yml, scripts/, *.md files with no API impact

• Subject is a bare file list or CI housekeeping note

4b. Group meaningful changes by theme

Use only these categories (omit any that have no entries):

• Breaking Changes — removed tool, renamed/removed parameter, incompatible schema change
• New Features — new MCP tool, new operation on existing tool, new config option, new query parameter
• Bug Fixes — incorrect behavior corrected, crash fixed, data integrity issue resolved
• Performance — measurable throughput or latency improvement
• Documentation — user-visible docs (only if substantive)

4c. Write 3-8 user-facing bullet points

Rules for each bullet:

• Start with a past-tense verb (Added, Fixed, Improved, Removed, Changed)
• Name the tool or feature affected (e.g., query_items, advance_item)
• Describe the benefit to the user, not the implementation detail
• Do not mention internal class names, Kotlin types, or file paths
• Example: Added \includeAncestors\ to \query_items\ — eliminates parent-walk call chains for breadcrumb context

4d. Detect plugin content changes

Check if any files under claude-plugins/ changed since the last tag:

git diff <LAST_TAG>...HEAD --name-only -- claude-plugins/

If the output is non-empty, plugin content changed. Also check if any server source files (Kotlin, migrations, Gradle config) changed:

git diff <LAST_TAG>...HEAD --name-only -- current/src/ current/build.gradle.kts gradle/

Classify the release type:

• server — server source changed, no plugin changes
• both — server source and plugin content both changed
• plugin-only — only plugin files changed (skills, hooks, output styles), no server source

Read the current plugin version from the authoritative source — do not assume it matches any git tag. The version in the repository files may have been bumped in a previous release:

cat claude-plugins/task-orchestrator/.claude-plugin/plugin.json | grep '"version"'

Determine the plugin bump level using the same semver rules as the server version, but scoped to plugin content:

Note the plugin bump level separately from the server bump level — they are independent. If no plugin files changed, skip plugin versioning entirely (server-only release).

Step 5 — Infer Bump Level

Plugin-only release: If the release type is plugin-only, skip the server bump entirely. The server version in version.properties stays unchanged. Only the plugin version (determined in Step 4d) is bumped. Proceed to Step 6 with the server version as-is and the plugin version as the new value.

Server or both release: Examine the synthesized changes and determine the bump level:

If multiple conditions apply, use the highest applicable level.

State the bump level and the one-sentence reason. Example:

Bump: minor — GitHub wiki CI sync and release automation added (new capability, no breaking change).

Calculate the proposed new version:

• patch: increment VERSION_PATCH by 1, keep others
• minor: increment VERSION_MINOR by 1, reset VERSION_PATCH to 0, keep VERSION_MAJOR
• major: increment VERSION_MAJOR by 1, reset VERSION_MINOR and VERSION_PATCH to 0

Step 6 — Present for Confirmation

Output the following block and stop. Wait for the user to confirm or request changes.

## Proposed Release: vX.Y.Z  (CURRENT -> NEW)

**Release type:** <server | both | plugin-only>
**Bump level:** <major | minor | patch>
**Reason:** <one sentence>

**Plugin version:** <CURRENT -> NEW> (<bump level>) — or "No plugin changes"

### Changelog Draft

## [X.Y.Z] - YYYY-MM-DD

### <Added | Changed | Fixed>
- <bullet 1>
- <bullet 2>
...

---

Use today's date in YYYY-MM-DD format. If the user requests changes, revise and re-present before continuing.

Step 7 — Create Release Branch

After confirmation:

git checkout -b release/vX.Y.Z

Step 8 — Apply Changes

8a. Update version.properties

Plugin-only release: Skip this step — the server version stays unchanged.

Server or both release: Edit version.properties in the project root. Set only the lines that need to change. Reset lower components on a major or minor bump.

Example for a minor bump from 2.0.2 -> 2.1.0:

VERSION_MAJOR=2
VERSION_MINOR=1
VERSION_PATCH=0

8b. Update plugin version files (if plugin content changed)

Skip this step if no plugin files changed in Step 4d.

Read the current plugin version from claude-plugins/task-orchestrator/.claude-plugin/plugin.json (already retrieved in Step 4d). Calculate the new version using the plugin bump level from Step 4d.

Update both files with the new version:

1. claude-plugins/task-orchestrator/.claude-plugin/plugin.json — update the version field
2. .claude-plugin/marketplace.json — update plugins[name="task-orchestrator"].version

Also update the version table in claude-plugins/CLAUDE.md:

• Find the row for task-orchestrator and replace the version number

Stage the three files (in addition to version.properties):

git add claude-plugins/task-orchestrator/.claude-plugin/plugin.json \
        .claude-plugin/marketplace.json \
        claude-plugins/CLAUDE.md

8c. Insert new section into CHANGELOG.md

Read CHANGELOG.md. Find the first ## [ versioned entry (after the header). Insert the new section immediately above it, with a trailing --- separator and a blank line:

## [X.Y.Z] - YYYY-MM-DD

### Added
- bullet 1
- bullet 2

---

## [previous version] ...

Do not modify any existing entries.

If plugin content changed (Step 4d), add under the appropriate section:

• Bumped plugin version to X.Y.Z (<reason>)

8d. Stage, commit, and push

Plugin-only release (plugin files already staged from 8b):

git add CHANGELOG.md
git status   # confirm only plugin version files + changelog are staged
git commit -m "release: bump to vX.Y.Z — plugin vA.B.C"
git push origin release/vX.Y.Z

Server-only release:

git add version.properties CHANGELOG.md
git status   # confirm only expected files are staged
git commit -m "release: bump to vX.Y.Z"
git push origin release/vX.Y.Z

Both release (plugin files already staged from 8b):

git add version.properties CHANGELOG.md
git status   # confirm expected files are staged
git commit -m "release: bump to vX.Y.Z"
git push origin release/vX.Y.Z

Step 9 — Pre-PR Checklist

Before creating the PR, verify these README items and fix any that are stale. If fixes are needed, add README.md to the staged files and amend the commit before pushing.

Docker image references:

grep -n "ghcr.io/jpicklyk/task-orchestrator" README.md

Every Docker image reference must use :latest — never a branch name or hardcoded version tag.

Version badge (line ~7 in README):

Both /github/v/tag/ and /github/v/release/ badge endpoints work — the CI workflow creates a git tag and a GitHub release on every deploy. No change needed unless the URL is broken.

Step 10 — Create the PR

gh pr create \
  --base main \
  --title "release: vX.Y.Z — <one-line summary of most significant change>" \
  --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
## Summary

- <bullet 1>
- <bullet 2>
- <bullet 3>

## Version

**Release type:** <server | both | plugin-only>
<CURRENT> -> <NEW>

Prepared with /prepare-release
EOF
)"

If the branch already has an open PR, use gh pr edit with the same title and body instead.

If the user says "show me the command" or "don't run it yet", print the full command as a code block instead of executing it.

Step 11 — Merge, Verify, Tag, and Monitor

This step automates the post-PR flow. After the PR is created, drive the release to completion rather than printing manual instructions.

11a. Print summary

Release prepared: CURRENT -> vX.Y.Z  (<bump level>)
Release type:     <server | both | plugin-only>
Branch:           release/vX.Y.Z
PR:               <URL from gh pr create>

11b. Merge the release PR

Ask the user: "Ready to merge the release PR?"

If confirmed:

gh pr merge <PR-number> --squash --delete-branch

If the user prefers to merge manually (e.g., via GitHub UI), wait for them to confirm it's merged before continuing.

11c. Sync local main

git checkout main
git pull origin main

Verify the pull is a fast-forward. If it's not (local main has diverged from origin), stop and investigate — this should not happen under the PR-per-feature workflow.

11d. Wait for CI to pass on main

Server or both release: CI must be green before tagging. Use /loop to monitor automatically:

/loop 2m gh run list --branch main --limit 1 --json status,conclusion,displayTitle

While monitoring, check the first result immediately:

gh run list --branch main --limit 1 --json status,conclusion,displayTitle

• If conclusion: success — proceed to 11e immediately, cancel the loop
• If status: in_progress — wait for the loop to report completion
• If conclusion: failure — stop and fix. Do NOT tag. Report the failure

to the user, investigate the cause, and merge a fix. After fixing, re-check CI before tagging. The tag must point to a green commit.

Plugin-only release: Skip CI monitoring — no server code changed, no Docker image to build. Proceed directly to the plugin-only completion in 11g.

11e. Tag and push (server or both release)

Once CI is green, cancel the monitoring loop and create the tag:

git tag vX.Y.Z
git push origin vX.Y.Z

This triggers the "Build, Publish, and Release" workflow (docker-publish.yml).

11f. Monitor the Docker build

Use /loop to track the docker-publish workflow:

/loop 2m gh run list --workflow=docker-publish.yml --limit=1 --json status,conclusion,displayTitle

Check immediately:

gh run list --workflow=docker-publish.yml --limit=1 --json status,conclusion,displayTitle

• If conclusion: success — cancel the loop, proceed to 11h
• If status: in_progress or queued — wait for the loop
• If conclusion: failure — report the failure, investigate, and help the user

resolve it. The Docker build may need a re-tag or a fix-and-retag cycle.

11g. Plugin-only completion

No tag or Docker rebuild needed — only plugin content changed. Plugin users pick up the new version when they reinstall the marketplace.

Report:

Release complete: vX.Y.Z (plugin-only)
Plugin version:   vA.B.C

Skip to 11h.

11h. Final report

Server or both release:

Release complete: vX.Y.Z
Docker image:     ghcr.io/jpicklyk/task-orchestrator:X.Y.Z (and :latest)
GitHub Release:   https://github.com/jpicklyk/task-orchestrator/releases/tag/vX.Y.Z

Cancel any remaining monitoring loops.

IMPORTANT: Do NOT use gh workflow run — the CI workflow is triggered by tag pushes (v*), not manual dispatch.

Quick Reference

Common mistakes to avoid:

• Do not tag before CI is green on main — tagging a broken commit ships a broken Docker image
• Do not include raw commit hashes or internal file paths in the changelog
• Do not bump version without confirmation from the user
• Do not stage files other than version.properties, CHANGELOG.md, plugin version files (if changed), and README.md (if fixes were needed)
• Do not create the PR if there are no commits ahead of the last tag
• Do not bump plugin versions outside of the release workflow